Scotty's Brewhouse - Downtown, Indianapolis, IN

Posted By Ken Thursday, 19 August 2010 19:58

Scotty's Brewhouse Downtown

(317) 571-0808

Website

Overview
Parking: Street; Metered parking before 6pm
Smoking: No
Audience: All Ages
Perks: Mug Club and VIP Cards

Ken's Review

Food: A It's hard to know where to begin here. Scotty's offers a wide range of food choices, including many that are totally original, and equally awesome. Appetizer-wise, the Dill Chips and 7 Tidals Dip are definite highlights. Burgers include their famous Shewman Special, a 1/2 lb. burger with jalapenos, cheddar cheese, bacon, and peanut butter. Yes, peanut butter. I was a skeptic, too, but it is phenomenal. Other burgers include their loaded waffle fries burger, with loaded waffle fries on the burger; 7 tidals burger with the 7 Tidals Dip on top; the Big Ass Brewhouse Burger, which is 24 ounces, and gets you your picture on the website if you finish it; plus too many others to name.  There are also a selection of flatbreads, wraps, salads, and a plethora of great sides like loaded waffle fries, tater tots, a delicious mac and cheese that you can get loaded with bleu cheese crumbles and cajun spices, onion strings, and Bourbon Street cajun black beans and dirty rice.  Desserts? Oh my God. You have the homemade German chocolate cake, which replaces coconut (Scott hates coconut) by rolling the cake in crushed toffee bar; the Suga' Momma Soto, which is a delicious cinnamon and sugar, apple, and graham cracker piece of heaven; their famous peanut butter pie; and I can just keep going. The menu is MASSIVE, and even contains a number of items for the kids. I have never had anything I did not thoroughly enjoy to eat there.

Drinks: A Beer selection at Scotty's is one that isn't hard to find something you will enjoy. There is a wide range of both bottled and draft beers, martinis, cocktails like the Georgia Peach (a Cari favorite), wines, and mixed drinks. There are drink specials of some kind every night, with Thursday being one of our favorite nights to go for $2.50 pints of domestic, and $3.50 pints of Import/Microbrews. There are also flights that you can order to sample a few of their martini selections, as well as liquor and even wine flights! There is also a mug club program you can become a member of, which gets you $1 off 23oz. listed price on beer.

Entertainment: A Scott hosts a lot of "Tweetups" and other social gatherings at the Downtown location, great to meet fellow Tweeters and professionals. These often include free apps and discounts on beverages. And on the right night you may just see and meet Scott himself! There is a giant outdoor patio area with a fire pit, and enough room for a rock concert. The downtown location plays host to a lot of live, outdoor performances throughout the tolerable-weather season. There are also beer tapping events, and they even had a great GenCon theme going this year where the restaurant was decked out in geekiness, with movies like Ghostbusters and Monty Python and the Holy Grail playing during dinner. Even on nights with no events, this is a very fun place to hang out.

Atmosphere: A The atmosphere is one that is very relaxing and even on a busy night does not overwhelm you. There is plenty of seating, with tables around the bar, large 6-seater booths, 4-top high tables, and a large bar you can sit down and enjoy some drinks and/or food at. There is also the aforementioned outdoor seating area. There is a large conference/dining room with executive leather chairs, a projection screen, and televisions that can be rented for a corporate presentation or business meal. There are numerous televisions all over the place, and you with either hear a game from one of them, or hear music playing. The booth seats also include small LCD televisions that you can watch while you eat. And I can't leave this part of the review without mentioning the bathrooms. Yes, the bathrooms. Automatic toilets, soap dispensers, and sinks allow you to only really have to touch the door handle on the way out. And the big highlight is the hand dryers. These aren't the loud jet-engine ones that you spend 60 seconds trying to get your hands dry. These you slip your hands into, and slowly draw them out, drying your hands in about 10 seconds flat. Awesome! Hey, little things like this excite me, so what?

Overall: A I really like going to eat here, and wish I could more often. The prices are definitely reasonable for the amount of food you get, along with the originality of what you are getting. The longest I have ever waited for a table was just a couple minutes. The host and server staff are very on-point and attentive. Never had to wait to be asked for a refill. If you are on Twitter you can follow @brewhouse and a lot of times if you mention you are eating there, Scott himself will Tweet you to ask how things are. Customer service is almost unprecedented with Scott and his management team. If anything at all goes wrong, they will bend over backwards to make it right, and this is one place where you can not only get a good meal, but the actual owner wants to help make sure it was as enjoyable as possible.